USA – Development finance institutions

Section II: Priority Areas of the National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct

…

3. Priority Area (3) Strengthening Access to Remedy: “[…] agencies and offices will strengthen USG-based due diligence processes and grievance mechanisms in consultation with external stakeholders through the following measures, all of which are further elaborated upon in Section III:

[…]

• U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC): DFC will strengthen protections against reprisals for groups and individuals through an updated policy commitment, developing internal guidance for responding to allegations of retaliation, and enabling anonymous complaints in DFC grievance mechanisms.
• U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”): Treasury will advocate for effective remedy systems at multilateral development banks, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), for project-affected communities, which includes robust responsible exit principles.

(p.13)

Section III: Additional National Action Plan Commitments

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Table 3: Access to Remedy Commitments

The DFC will “strengthen protections for individuals and groups voicing complaints and enhance its capacity to respond when retaliation does occur. DFC will codify its commitment to zero tolerance for retaliation in its updated Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures (ESPP); develop and implement internal guidance for responding to allegations of retaliation; and ensure existing DFC complaints mechanism procedures enable anonymous complaints.”

The Department of Treasury will “advocate for an effective remedy system at multilateral banks, including IFC and MIGA, which includes robust principles on “responsible exit.” This advocacy will inform IFC and MIGA’s development of the “IFC/MIGA Approach to Remedial Action.” This approach seeks to minimize the occurrence of environmental and social harm in IFC and MIGA projects through improving the implementation of environmental and social safeguards, while also supporting remedial action to communities to address harm when needed.”

(p.23)

Table 4: Technology Commitments

The Department of State will “work with Treasury to convene an interagency working group to strengthen human rights safeguards that apply to multilateral development bank funded telecommunications infrastructure projects.” (p.28)

Table 6: Environment, Climate, and Just Transitions Commitments

The DFC will “update its ESPP by clarifying its clients’ responsibilities in assessing supply chains with high risks of child labor and forced labor, significant health and safety issues, or significant conversion of critical forest areas or critical natural habitat in order to promote due diligence. Through this update, clients will better understand DFC expectations with respect to identifying and managing risks in their supply chains, and DFC will be better positioned to assess supply chain risks to mitigate harm.”

The DFC will “enhance stakeholder engagement by enabling robust and diverse public comment on proposed policy changes to its ESPP. To ensure that the ESPP revision process is inclusive of a diverse set of stakeholders and interests, DFC will continue to provide sufficient notice and opportunities for public comment on changes to its ESPP.”

(p.33)